So either you can't afford to buy everything organic, or it's not readily available to you, or you just don't care so you get the "regular" stuff. when you are getting ready to chomp into some tasty veggies or fruits how do you wash? Just with water or do you use some kind of "cleaner"? Do you scrub or simply rinse? How important do you think it is? Are you worried about fertilizers and pesticides?

I wash my hands and then I rub the fruits/veggies under running water.
I might use a potato brush on a melon or something with a rind that looks dirty. But usually if it looks clean, like an orange, I'll just rinse it as above.

For lettuces, I discard the outer leaves and then rinse under running water.
I avoid waxed stuff like cucumbers, but if that's all I can get I'll rub it under running water and then peel it.

For loose leaves that are gritty, like kale, big bowl filled w/water. Put in kale, swish around, lift out. Change the water, rinse the bowl, and repeat till not gritty. 3 times for spinach or salad greens, 7 times for kale or collards or mustard is the old way of saying how long to do it.

I don't think washing has anything to do with pesticide residue. I believe most pesticides are "systemic" and are all through the items in question, not just the surface.

washing is to get rid of bacteria that can give you food poisoning.

It depends on the vegetable. That's why, in my opinion, it is good to try for organic from the 'dirty dozen' foods and then not worry about the others so much. That's apples, celery, cucumber, cherry tomato, grapes (especially from Mexico), peppers (bell and hot), peaches/nectarines, potatoes (but studies show that scrubbing a potato removes a lot of the pesticides), strawberry, blueberry, and greens and lettuces.

I buy organic lettuce, spinach, and cherry tomato and celery since I eat so much of them. I grow my own apples. I peel my cucumbers and I only buy domestic grapes. I choose local, small-farm berries and melons and big tomatoes---it's the best I can do.

We can't afford organic for our family, so I don't sweat it. I also don't delude myself into thinking that I'm gaining significant health or quality of life just from washing an apple better. I rinse produce and squirt/rub some produce wash onto it, to remove the physical residue, because it is easy. The rest I don't give a moment of my time. In terms of deleterious health effects, many things in the diet have a demonstrably more significant impact on health than animal poop, small quantities of neurotoxins, and some wax. So I do my personal risk assessment and manage accordingly. That calculation may look different for you, but clean fruits and veggies are not at the top of my list beyond what is simple and common sense cleaning.

If The Lord brings me home over eating too many veggies that were farmed with pesticides, that's fine by me. Last time I checked mortality rates were 100% minus three men

We can't afford organic for our family, so I don't sweat it. I also don't delude myself into thinking that I'm gaining significant health or quality of life just from washing an apple better. I rinse produce and squirt/rub some produce wash onto it, to remove the physical residue, because it is easy. The rest I don't give a moment of my time. In terms of deleterious health effects, many things in the diet have a demonstrably more significant impact on health than animal poop, small quantities of neurotoxins, and some wax. So I do my personal risk assessment and manage accordingly. That calculation may look different for you, but clean fruits and veggies are not at the top of my list beyond what is simple and common sense cleaning.

If The Lord brings me home over eating too many veggies that were farmed with pesticides, that's fine by me. Last time I checked mortality rates were 100% minus three men

I was beginning to think that I was the only one that didn't give washing veggies much thought. I can't say that I wash anything unless it is visibly dirty, and even then I'll probably just brush the dirt off. It just isn't on my list of things to worry about.

I was beginning to think that I was the only one that didn't give washing veggies much thought. I can't say that I wash anything unless it is visibly dirty, and even then I'll probably just brush the dirt off. It just isn't on my list of things to worry about.

I'm right with ya! And, good grief, do people really wash melons and oranges? That has never even occurred to me. I know that you're supposed to wash avocadoes but I'm just to lazy, I guess.

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jayne, type I diabetic and mama to two sweet boys (9/03 and 2/09)

Yeah, I'm with the no washing crew! I will pull off/ rinse visibly dirty leaves of lettuce or rinse of celery stalks if I see visible dirt. I don't wash fruit, really. I rinse and rub zucchini and yellow squash because sometimes it feeels dirty to touch, sticky almost. Not sure if it's the natural waxy/rubbery skin that makes it feel that way or not, but that one always.

I will wash our berries when we buy them right before eating or serving to the kiddos. I've noticed if I wash the whole tray of strawberries, they tend to mold faster. And raspberries get very soggy if you rinse and pop back into the fridge. I've never washed a melon, though when the Hepatitis A scare happened with canteloupe last year, I just didn't buy it. Not worth the risk.

Otherwise, I really don't think about washing anything. It's occurred to me, but I choose not to. I figure if things have been sprayed with pestacides during the growth period on the farms, it's pretty likely that the chemicals aren't just superficial.

I'm with your husband and the can thing. I give the tops of cans a swipe with a clorox wipe before opening, or a damp paper towel. No insecticide in my tomato sauce, thanks. We are lucky to have an organic vegetable market in town and the produce is amazing. Organic broccoli is fantastic. I buy regular avocados. I just rinse the produce with water in a large colander.I used to have an big garden but we travel more now and can't maintain one while we are away. Nothing like home grown.